I don't know how many of you have been wondering about the news that the founder and chairman of Microsoft quit. As for me, since I am in the computer science industry, this news hit me hard. I and with my friends here in Bangalore were completely wonder-struck. We were asking ourselves: why did one of the most successful CEOs in this business, the richest and most successful man in the world for the past decade and a half, quit at the age of 52? It wasn't as if his company had filed for bankruptcy like Lehman Brothers or Merrill Lynch, nor was it experiencing financial losses.

So, I thought and pondered and contemplated, and perchance I have arrived at the answer. My inclination towards the spiritual world helped me resolve the dilemma, and now I can say that I have indeed arrived at a satisfactory conclusion.

If you look at it from a materialistic perspective you might not be able to comprehend what I am trying to convey here; for in a materialistic dimension, instances and incidents are usually perceived from a rational point of view. But, on the contrary, life can never be rationalized, and that is what makes life so beautiful, filled with suspense and mysteries to be unraveled and discovered each day you live. Imagine how boring life would be if you knew everything about the future. Would you pay to see movie if you knew everything about it beforehand?

Mr. Gates' decision to quit Microsoft can be directly related to one of man's greatest and most constant searches, the quest to be blissful, to be happy and to experience peace and solace. Viewed in this light, I can very well understand Mr. Gates' helplessness. What more could he have done in life, stuck in the same place for the past fifteen years, having achieved almost every materialistic goal a man dreams of in his lifetime. By way of analogy, would you like to be the number one student in the same class for fifteen years? Mr. Gates was stuck. And when anything gets stuck it becomes stagnant and boring. Life is a flux, continuously flowing until death.

Here is an analogy from the life of the great mystic, Gautam the Buddha. Buddha was born to a ruler in Lumbini, Nepal. The day he was born, a renowned astrologer came to his father's kingdom and told his father that that his son would be either a great mystic or a great "chakravartin," which means in Sanskrit a great warrior. When his father heard this he became very troubled and upset, because in no way did he want his son to be a mystic; he wanted him to be just like him, a great warrior and a great king.

So as Buddha started growing up, his father made certain arrangements, which he thought would prevent Buddha from ever becoming a mystic. First, he never allowed Buddha to go out of the palace. Everything, whatever Buddha wanted, was arranged in the palace itself. No diseased or crippled people were allowed in the palace or anywhere nearby it. His father's arrangements were almost perfect. Buddha was very contended and happy in the palace.